April the 27th, 2026 – Croatia’s private accommodation problem is about to get much more complicated with the introduction of a new law curbing the so-called grey market, but it goes deeper than that.
As tportal/Damir Petranovic writes, in Croatia, the number of tourist beds in household facilities, or should we say private accommodation, is now lower for the first time ever compared to last year. The sum is lower by as much as 10,000 beds, as was confirmed by the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ).
Back in 2024, 644,079 such beds were registered, in 2025, 667,598 of them, and this year the number decreased to 657,598. This reversal is being widely interpreted as the result of a whole series of legal changes aimed at curbing apartment building and creating preconditions for affordable housing, especially in large cities that are under great tourist pressure during summer.
vikendice – a problematic breeding ground for grey market activities
“Following on from several years of consecutive capacity growth in Croatia when it comes to private accommodation, this year we’ve had a kind of consolidation of the situation. This uncontrolled capacity growth has been successfully stopped, at the same time the quality of the offer has increased, and the facilities are recording better occupancy,” HTZ director Kristjan Staničić revealed.
At the same time, however, the number of beds in non-commercial accommodation’ i.e. in holiday cottages, houses or apartments that their owners formally use for personal needs and for free stays for family or friends, has grown at an even greater rate. This indicates a possible expansion of the infamous Croatian accommodation grey zone. In short, this translates to the total evasion of taxes, tourist fees and other charges – illegal renting.
According to the obtained data, the number of beds in non-commercial accommodation currently stands at 705,999, last year there were 678,983 such beds, and in 2024 exactly 651,175 of them. This means that in less than two years, the number of beds in Croatia’s vikendice has increased by 50,000. For the first time in recent history, that figure is greater than the number of beds in the category we refer to as private apartments, which means that Croatia currently has more capacity for summer holidays for “family and friends” than those that are actually and formally rented out to tourists. According to official data, the largest amount of non-commercial accommodation is registered in the Zadar and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties.
croatia, we have a problem…
The director of the Croatian Tourism Board, Staničić, indirectly confirmed that there is indeed a problem, namely that it could be people trying to avoid paying taxes and other fees or foreigners renting out their properties illegally. “As for non-commercial accommodation, this is growth that has been present for a long time now and is partly related to changes in the way property can be used, the ability of foreign citizens to buy property, and the broader regulatory and tax framework,” Staničić explained.
By law, owners of holiday homes or apartments in non-commercial accommodation are also required to register in the eVisitor system and pay a symbolic tourist tax for their guests, even if they don’t pay for the use of the accommodation itself. However, it’s an open secret that many property owners don’t bother to ever do this, and on the other hand, they still dramatically burden the strained local infrastructure.
there are nowhere near enough inspectors
In Croatia, around 70 tourist inspectors alone have so far been responsible for supervising unregistered accommodation. It’s therefore evident that these 705,999 beds – or, as estimated, around 160,000 facilities in non-commercial accommodation – wouldn’t be able to be inspected in their entire working life.
Last week, a draft of the new Hospitality Act was presented, which is currently in the public consultation procedure. It extends the powers of supervision to customs and municipal guards in cities and municipalities. It remains to be seen whether this will work in practice, as these services are also totally overwhelmed and under-staffed.
A measure that assigns a special identification number, a kind of OIB, to every tourist property in Croatia could prove to be somewhat effective. The same could be said for the obligation of online platforms – from the giants Booking and Airbnb to small local websites – to display this individual number with every advertised tourist capacity.
harsh penalties – but will they work?
The prescribed fines for violating this obligation range from a minimum of 130,000 euros to several percent of annual income. It’s therefore expected that we’ll likely encounter houses, flats and apartments that are not registered for tourist rentals less often in the online space. This alone will obviously not completely solve the problem of illegal rentals.
Interestingly, similar problems are completely unknown to many successful tourist countries. In Spain, for example, the category of “non-commercial accommodation” does not exist at all. There, you either have your own private property, or you rent it out to tourists – there’s no in between.
Croatia, as always, has a situation on its hands that is far more problematic than it ever should have been.
